Knights

Photo: Kailey Lane/Nashua Silver Knights

After two days without action for the Silver Knights, the team was looking to carry last weekend’s success into their first game of the week. Looking for their third straight win, the Knights added to their long list of comeback victories by coming back from down 3-0 to win 5-4 against the Bees.

Following a rainout in Westfield on Tuesday, Nashua would have to bus down to New Britain, Connecticut for their first game of the week. Nashua’s back-to-back wins last weekend set up the potential for another winning streak, trying to make it three straight in their sixth time facing the Bees in 2022.

Nashua caught fire over the weekend offensively, scoring 10+ runs twice. On Wednesday, the flame wasn’t so quick to ignite. Five zeroes on the board for Nashua to start the game allowed the Bees to jump out to a lead, scoring early in one run first and second frames.

After another New Britain run came across in the fifth, the Knights now had to act fast. But after being smothered all game long, Nashua’s offense started to spark.

In the top of the sixth, the Bees opened the door wider for the Silver Knights to comeback with a two-out walk and hit by pitch. With two runners now aboard, Salve Regina’s Matt D’Amato scored his first hit in his two-hit night as the first Nashua run of the game came in to score.

In the seventh, New Britain's self-inflicted issues crept Nashua back even more. Another hit by pitch got St. Thomas Aquinas College’s Andrew Jemison on base. Jemison ended up stealing second, later advancing to third on a passed ball. Now with a runner on third for Boston College’s Kyle Wolff, the slugging first baseman brought the Bees lead to one with an RBI single.

In a season of highs and lows, one thing is certain about the 2022 Silver Knights: don’t give them life. After New Britain did exactly that with Nashua capitalizing on errors and sloppy play, the Knights delivered the kill shot. In the eighth, a walk along with another D’Amato single once again set up runners on first and second. With a big opportunity to strike, Nashua called to the bench for Eastern Nazarene’s Shane McNamara. McNamara has become known for his bench bat, walking off a thriller against Pittsfield on a pinch hit double on July 2nd.

Now in a situation like that hot afternoon in Holman, McNamara had a chance to deliver once again. On the third pitch of the at bat, McNamara scorched a ball into the central Connecticut forest to flip the game on its head with Nashua now up 5-3. Eastern Nazarene’s big bat launched his first homer of the season, giving him 13 RBIs in just 29 plate appearances.

New Britain wouldn’t go down easy though, adding a run in the bottom of the eighth to cut it to 5-4. Looking to not let go of their slim lead, the Knights turned to two arms who have been nails lately in the backend of their bullpen in Plymouth State’s Noah Wachter and Wake Forest’s Will Andrews. Both pitching an inning a piece, the two combined for no earned runs with only one hit as Andrews closed out the 5-4 victory for Nashua’s third straight win.

Andrews got his first save of the season on Wednesday with the Knights moving to 22-18 after the win. Hoping for no rain this time around, Nashua will head back to Westfield for a Thursday 6:30 PM first pitch against the Starfires.